


Helping Hands

by chrissy_sky



Series: Halloween 2015 [16]
Category: Slayers (Anime & Manga)
Genre: M/M, Pre-Slash, Spooky, Supernatural - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-31
Updated: 2015-10-31
Packaged: 2018-04-28 13:34:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5092646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chrissy_sky/pseuds/chrissy_sky
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zelgadis is temporarily blinded and needs to be guided away from a fight.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Helping Hands

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah I wrote something not TRAD and dared to post it. FIGHT ME.
> 
> For Prompt: Bats - Someone has lost their vision and must rely upon their other senses to find their way around.

-

"Come, Zelgadis-san! Just a little further!" 

The grip on his wrist was iron-tight as it tugged him through the woods. Zelgadis cursed the circumstances that had led him into this situation. Some rare oil had been thrown into his eyes, and it wouldn't kill him, but he was temporarily without his sight. He couldn't even make out vague shapes yet. All he could see was darkness. That left him mostly defenseless and needing to be lead around by his friends, who, during the fight, he had been separated from. 

Except for Xellos, who didn't really qualify as a 'friend' most of the time. Xellos was currently dragging him through the woods, racing, and even with his unique metabolism, he was starting to tire. 

"Xellos, wait, I need to rest," Zelgadis protested weakly as his hip slammed into another tree trunk along the way. 

Xellos laughed. "Just a little further, Zelgadis-san!"

"You keep saying that!" Zelgadis panted in frustration. "Where are we going?!"

"Just a little further!" 

"Why do you keep repeating that?!" Zelgadis demanded and, due to his irritation, did not recover in time after tripping over what he thought was a tree root. 

He fell, hitting the ground hard. It didn't hurt that much, but once the suddenness of it was over, he immediately realized the grip on his wrist was gone. 

Zel strained his hearing, but all he could make out around him were the noises of the forest. Some crickets, leaves and tree limbs rustling above him. No footsteps, not even the faint sounds of his friends fighting behind him. 

He used the nearest tree, the one he'd tripped on, to have something solid to connect to in the dark world. "Xellos?"

There was no answer. Just silence.

"Xellos!" he tried again. "Stop fucking around!"

Nothing at first. Then, from seemingly all around him, and faint, " _Just a little further_."

The voice, even though the words were the same, were no longer Xellos'. Zel did the only thing he could think of, fingers shaking from both adrenaline and from dread, as he began to cast a shield spell around himself. 

Before he could finish, something hard knocked into him from behind, causing him to lose his balance and hit the unforgiving forest floor once again. If his skin wasn't made of stone, he would have quite a few bumps and bruises by this point. 

He did what he absolutely shouldn't do, and cast some Ra Tilts out blindly in different directions, hoping that he would hit something. After some subsequent explosions, Zelgadis paused for breath and to listen.

The crickets had stopped at least, and he heard nothing else. He waited.

All he knew was that the thing guiding him into the woods wasn't even Xellos, and he wasn't sure where Lina and the others were. If they were still in the same area, surely they would have heard the spells he used, right? They would be on the way.

He strained his ears, half hopeful that he'd hit whatever had hit him, trying to make out anything that could help him with his surroundings. 

Then, he heard it again. 

" _Just a little further_." 

It didn't even sound human this time. 

A chill ran down his spine, and it wasn't from the cold. "What the hell are you?"

Just a Little Further didn't answer the question. All there was, again, was silence. 

Gradually, when nothing else happened, Zelgadis stood and tried to discern the immediate area around him, through stumbling and touch. He stood in what he assumed was a very small clearing. One of the trees had what felt alarmingly like ivy, and Zelgadis was frantically brushing his fingers off on his pants before he remembered that poison ivy and oak really had no effect on his skin anymore. He hadn't gotten a skin rash since he was fifteen. 

He thought about trying to go back in the directly he had come from, but even before trying to figure out where he was, he'd been severely turned around and it would have been--literally--a blind guess. It was safer if he stayed where he was. 

Even though it meant that whatever had lead him here knew exactly where he was. There wasn't anything that would fix that, though, even if he ran. He could only try to think of a plan, despite all of the things he could think of being far more successfully executed if he could _see_. It was also hard to concentrate when he feared he would be attacked at any moment. If he dared to put up a shield, would the thing strike at him again?

If it was a Mazoku, which could actually hurt him, was it just playing with him? Zelgadis probably made a very enticing little rat to play with, given how defenseless and vulnerable he was. All the delicious fear he knew he was giving off. 

He remembered the last time he'd been this vulnerable. It was the last time he had trusted anyone completely, and had that trust betrayed so thoroughly.

Even then, at least Rezo had _left him with his eyes_. Now he didn't even have that.

There was a _whoosh_ noise beside him, on his left. Zel instinctively swung his fist in that direction, aiming for head-height. 

He lost his already shaky balance and fell again. This time, though, he did not hit the ground, but instead a soft, strong weight caught him.

"Zelgadis-san, are you quite alright?" 

He wasn't falling for this again. Zelgadis grabbed the body by its robes, pushing them easily to the ground, with himself on top and holding the thing down.

Beneath him, whatever it was, gave a soft gasp.

"You're not tricking me this time!" Zel shouted at it, ready to throw a ra tilt directly in its center. 

"I know our relationship has been rocky, Zelgadis-san, but I assure you I'm only trying to assist you this time," said the thing, sounding like Xellos this time. 

"Sure, that's why you lead me out here!"

"I didn't lead you out here, Zelgadis-san."

Zel paused, one hand still holding onto its robes. "Is it really you?"

"Yes."

"Prove it."

'Xellos' laughed softly and reached for his hands, guiding his rocky fingers up to soft cheeks. "Does this suffice?"

A Mazoku that wasn't as powerful as Xellos couldn't fake skin that well. But Zelgadis knew that there were other creatures in the deep forest, that were not Mazoku, that could perfectly emulate a human--or a Mazoku very good at impersonating one.

"How can I know it's you? I was fooled earlier…" That was the most terrifying part. It could have been Lina, Gourry, or Amelia right there in front of him, his stubborn and self-proclaimed new family, and he wouldn't have known for sure if it was them. After being tricked already, he was just all the more full of doubt. 

How could he possibly be sure this was Xellos, the Trickster Priest, of all people?

"I'm me, I assure you. Shall I recount past experiences? Very well. When we first met, I betrayed you in order to destroy the remnants of a Claire Bible manuscript, so that you didn't foolish resurrect Zanaffar."

"You--" Zelgadis stopped short. "Wait, that was why?"

"Indeed. I didn't mention that before?"

"No! You just lit it on fire and left!" 

"Well, I do love my dramatic exists."

Zelgadis growled and finally got off of the Mazoku. "Fine, it's you. Only you could be this annoying." It was oddly the most relieved he'd felt all day. 

"Are you sure?" He could hear the smile in Xellos' tone. He was amazed just how much effort the Mazoku went to, to seem human. "There are so many other events we could reminisce about!"

"Later maybe, I'll throttle you for being annoying. Right now, I'd like to throttle the thing that kidnapped me and get out of here. It's probably a Mazoku, right?"

"Hm? Oh dear me, no. That's not one of my kind."

Zelgadis froze, reaching out for Xellos' sleeve for balance, despite hating having to do so.

Xellos gripped his elbow almost reassuringly. "No, I'm afraid there are other things in this world that feed off of fear, that even the Dark Lord is not responsible for. You seemed to have garnered its interest."

"Fabulous. What is it?"

"It's called many things. Humans would think of it as a crypted, something they're not sure even exists but they have many legends about. Others would think of it as a wayward spirit, likely to have had a brutal death, and whose spirit still wanders this mortal plane."

Zelgadis frowned in the direction of his voice. "None of that is reassuring, Xellos. What is it, really?"

"Something far worse than myths and ghosts, I'm afraid. We really should be going, Zelgadis-san." 

The urgency had his fear returning quickly. If it made Xellos, one of the most powerful beings he'd ever encountered, worried, then it wasn't something to be fucked around with. "Okay, lead the way."


End file.
